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The Windsor Police Department received $5,150 in donations near the end of 2023 to assist with the annual toy drive it conducts in town.

Windsor Police Chief Rodney “Dan” Riddle explained that each November, the department reaches out to donors.

“WPD receives donations from businesses, individuals and civic organizations in the community,” he said. “WPD receives both monetary and new toy donations.”

He noted that the department provides toys for Windsor-based Community Harvest Outreach’s annual Lots of Toys for Tots event.

“Toys are purchased from Walmart, obtained from our partners with Toys for Tots and donations,” Riddle said. “We have done so for the past 11 years. WPD efforts are separate from the CHO event.”

CHO’s annual Lots of Toys for Tots event, which was established in 2003, served approximately 100 families for Christmas in 2023, with those families coming from around Hampton Roads and even as far as Richmond.

Windsor Treasurer Cheryl McClanahan presented the Town Council on Jan. 10 with a resolution appropriating the sum of $5,150 in funds donated to the town of Windsor to the General Fund of the town’s operating budget for fiscal year 2023-24.

Vice Mayor J. Randy Carr said, “It looks like our Windsor PD is doing a good job,” with many children receiving a lot of good support.

Mayor George Stubbs said, “I’ll add to that from the photo I saw with the WPD representatives, the Outreach church down here, I think there was a considerable amount of Christmas cheer around the kids. That’s a good thing.”

Riddle, who was present at the Town Council meeting, said, “I would say we knock it out of the park, but our citizens and our businesses, the localities in town, the civic organizations, they really step up. That’s a pretty impressive amount of money to gather from a community of less than 3,000 people.”

“Yes, sir, I agree,” Stubbs said.

“That organization down the street, they do the Lord’s work every day,” Riddle said of CHO.

In a Thursday, Jan. 18, interview, he expanded on this comment, noting that the great work CHO does every day for the community includes “providing food, clothes, education and employment services in addition to the Lots of Toys for Tots event each Christmas. I am a huge supporter and fan of CHO and the work they do behind the scenes providing for members of this community.”

CHO Board Member Ida Goodwyn explained the vision behind the annual Lots of Toys For Tots event. 

“Our goal is always that no child wakes up and has no toys for Christmas,” she said. “Community Harvest Outreach is very big on making sure we meet the basic needs of those in our community. We serve those who are underprivileged, single parents, a lot of grandparents also who have children that they’re raising, they need a little help, a little assistance during Christmastime, so that’s always our goal — just to make sure that none of the children wake up on Christmas with no toys.”

Riddle noted that the $5,150 has already been spent for Christmas 2023 and is appropriated to pay off balances in the Community Relations line item of the police budget.

Councilman David Adams made a motion at the Jan. 10 Town Council meeting to adopt the resolution for appropriating the sum of $5,150 to the General Fund Operating Budget for FY 2023-24 for Miscellaneous Donation Revenue and Community Affairs Expense.

The resolution was adopted with a 5-0 vote. Councilman Walter Bernacki was not present at the meeting.